I have not given my daughters honey yet. My reasoning being that I wonder if giving them honey would be exposing them to pollen...or bees. bzzzzz My husband has pollen allergies as well as he is allergic to bees. Does anyone know anything about whether or not there is a link between pollen allergies, bee allergies and honey? Is anyone allergic to pollen or bees able to eat honey?

I'm not sure whether I'm allergic to bees or not. I was once stung by a yellow jacket in 1985--I don't know whether it is possible to be partially stung, but i don't think I was stung all the way because it didn't hurt as much as I envisioned it would and I just kind of brushed against it. Anyways, I don' t think that being stung once is an indication of whether one might develop an allergy. (My grandmother is anaphylactic to bees so I've always been very wary of them and somehow have avoided being stung except for that one time.)

But to answer your question---I would agree with youngvader that an allergy to bee venom would be unrelated to an allergy to honey. (but I don't really know--this is just my hunch.) But I do sometimes react to honey and I think it is because of my pollen allergies. My reaction is just like it is to raw fruits and vegetables--it's an oral allergy syndrome type of reaction. Awhile ago (maybe about 1 1/2 - 2 years ago) it got to the point where I couldn't have any honey without having a reaction. I stayed away from it for a long time, but I've recently started up on honey again and I've been fine. But I don't eat a lot and I don't eat it raw--I cook it because I figure I'll have less of a chance of reacting then. (I'm guessing that heat will partially destroy the protein.) Before I was putting it in my tea a lot--now i avoid that.

I have severe pollen allergies and there are just some "home-made" honeys that I have problems with (just a little hitching though). It's probably because it is less pasteurized of something, but I normally do fine with honey.

Way back in the spring someone (I think it was Audra...or maybe krasota) posted a news article about small daily doses of local honey possibly being good for the pollen allergic. The theory is that consuming honey has the same effect as taking allergy shots. So from that article I take it that honey does have enough pollen protein in it to affect the immune system. In my case, however, I dont think that that type of allergy therapy would be a good idea!

Actually the last time that I got fairly allergic to honey it was after buying unpasteurized honey at an arts and crafts fair. But after I became sensitive to it (again--I've had trouble with honey before that time) I also reacted to the pasteurized type which does seem weird because one would think that the protein would be destroyed.

I am pretty sure that their is always a botulism risk, at any age with unpasterized honey. Infants are just more suspectable to developing more serious symptoms because they ares small. Botulism can also be present in dented canned goods. I am quite stunned that stores sell dented cans in clearance bins. I always check mine closely, since dented cans can cause dangerous food poisoning.

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